SPEAKER INTERVIEW: KOUROSH SALEHI

Kourosh Salehi will be participating at the Urban Design & Landscape Expo this November. He is the Design Director at LWK + PARTNERS and he will be speaking at the Urban Design Talks on "Urban Oases: Mobility and the challenges of creating natural places".

Here's what Kourosh Salehi revealed ahead of the event.

In your opinion, what are the major trends in urban design & landscape industry today?

Sustainability is becoming a major issue and a key factor in the way designers and commissioners of built environment approach design. As we see in the news media, and on social media, engagement with all things environmental is becoming very much the number one factor in many different ways. For this reason, both designers and commissioners tend to have those public desires or wishes at the forefront of their design principles in many cases.

How do you expect the industry to evolve in the future?

The future approach to the built environment and design in general will need to be responsive to the changing perceptions of people and end users.

Certainly, with the increased use of social media, we see that the boundaries between what was at least once private and what is considered public are being eroded. For that reason, collaborative consumption or shared spaces like shared offices or shared living in many parts of the world are becoming the norm. As a consequence, we see that the engagement with the public or the urban realm is becoming way more desired and planned for. I think that this is a very strong future trend that we need to look out for.

Other future trends include the engagement that we make with our cities. Walkability is becoming a key factor. We cannot be stakeholders with our environments and our cities If we are to engage with them through a hermetically sealed capsule like our cars. This is again something that requires a different outlook and a different perspective on behalf of all commissioners, whether they're planners, urbanists or architects.

What can industry professionals expect to learn by attending your presentation at the Urban Design Talks?

At the Urban Design Talk we will analyse the public realm and public mobility, and we will touch on a number of challenges that we face both in the UAE and globally.

We will also showcase one of our recent projects, the Oasis or Green Bridge, which is going across the Dubai Creek. This is a walkable bridge, completely pedestrian with some bicycle usage and tree lines, that is part of Dubai’s vision to get us out of our cars and engage with the beautiful views over the Creek.

I'm delighted to be invited to take part in the Urban Design Talks and Urban Design & Landscape Expo and I really wish that my fellow professionals and students come along to participate and see a lot of great projects.

Why should industry professionals attend an event like the Urban Design & Landscape Expo?

UDLE is a good opportunity to challenge our own perceptions. We all are full of prejudices, we enter our world and our everyday working lives with a series of baggages and understanding. Often these conferences are a good opportunity to listen to other people's points of view; and if you're lucky enough to present an alternative viewpoint, maybe addressing some of the issues, hopefully people will go away with some questions to think about.

About Kourosh Salehi -

Kourosh Salehi is a Design Director at LWK + PARTNERS. He is a British architect and urban designer with 25 years’ experience delivering complex architectural projects in the UK, Asia and the Middle East, working on several large scale residential, retail and mixed use developments of which the last 15 years have been spent as a design and team leader. He has successfully completed a number of key multidisciplinary projects, from concept design to completion stages, and has extensive senior management track record.

Currently based in Dubai, Kourosh has extensive design and multi-disciplinary co-ordination skills, working with other signature designers and sub-consultants of international repute.

Kourosh also has academic experience as a university visiting tutor and examiner in the UK and the UAE.

You can hear more from Kourosh Salehi at the Urban Design Talks on 27th November, 13:00 - 13:45.

Register online to attend the event for free at THIS LINK.